Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1887-09-22
A FORETASTE OF War.
By JAMES FRANKLIN Fits.

Upon my introduction to actual hos
tilities, the aspect of things appeared
quite serious, but it turned out rather
q farce. Still there was real pros
pect of bloodshed in the adventure,
and the writer and some fifty or sixty
other ardent young soldiers in blue,
with and without shouider-straps, then
satisfied themselves that they were not
afraid to go were there was danger of
being shot at Anyway, the story is
worth telling.
It happened about April or May,
1862. had been in the military SER
vice of the United States since the pre-
vious September, and had not yet
heard bullet fly. 1 was q subaltern
in the Tenth New York Cavalry Regi-
ment. The Government had stopped
recruiting before we had got organized,
and it looked in the late fall of 1861 as
though we should never be regiment.
Finally, in the last days of December,
eight companies were mustered in, and
we were dispatched southwark from
EimfIa. rron tfIat- efno oi0s..'----r--t--
the second battle of Bull Run, eight
months later, the Government treated
us very much as though We were su-
perfiuous, and Of no manner of use.
First, we were put in barracks at Get
tysburg. That now worldwide famous
town had not been discovered at that
time; it lay amid the hills of Southern
Pennsylvania in all its original Dutch
sleepiness, and nobody dreamed of
such thing as that the greatest battle
of the war was to be fought on that
very ground. Surely, when we buried
one of our comrades on grand Gene
terry Hill one lovely spring Sabbath
the very first soldier ever inferred on
that historic spot-he would have been
deemed crazy who had predicted that in
little more than year deadly tenn
pest of fire, lead, and iron would rage
about this spot, and that, little later
on, thousands of soldiers graves would
dot these heights.
No; we never dreamed of such a
thing. We were at Gettysburg till the
following March; the regiment was not
mounted till August. We had an ex-
ceedingly good time. We had some
dismounted drill; we ate large quanti-
ties of apple-butter and hominy, the
principal products of the region; and
those of us who were young and frivo-
lous (as nearly all soldiers were in
those days firted with the Dutch
girls. 1 have always thought that If
our fed officers had not continually
stirred up the War Department on the
subject of mounting us and putting us
into the field, we would have been
right there when General Lee invaded
pennsylvania. But in March we we're
ordered to get on the line of the rail-
road from Baltimore to Havre-de-
Grace, at the mouth of the Susquehan-
ma, and guard it. AS dull sabers were
not very efficient weapons to guard any
thing with, lot of secondhand but
still serviceable muskets, were issued
to us. And then the lively row, that
Just fell short of being a mutinyl The
men protested and swore that they
were cavalry, not infantry, and accused
the officers of conspiracy with the War
Department to force muskets upon
them, and thus change their proud
condition in the service. We were, in
fact, up to that time about as much
cavalry as q lot of wooden hobby
horses are; but that made no difference
with what the men tn ought to be their
reserved rights. At last they were
convinced that this was to be merely O
temporary service, and the muskets
were accepted.
From the stern realities of war as
saw it in 1863 and 1864, my mind goes
back to those pleasant four months
along that railroad, and pronounces i
a delightful example of playing sol
der"
The region is the same that was in
vaded by that fre-eating guerilla, Har
ry Gilmor, and his band when, in the
July of 1864, while Early was invad
ing Maryland. they rode around Balti
more, stopped railroad train at Gun
powder Bridge, captured General
Franklin on it, and put everybody il
terror by their capers.
But everything was peaceable enough
about there in the summer of 1862
For sixty or eighty miles this road runs
around the head of Chesapeake Bay
and at each few miles OF the distanc,
wide inlet is crossed by railroad
bridge. We were split up into detach
ments, and posted at these bridges, Il
prevent them from being eaten up b,
the shad. 1 couldn't really see tina
there was anything else to do. Th'
inhabitants of the country were gen
orally loyal; but they we're all kline
and hospitable, the Secessionists o.
much so as the Union folks. SO vi
ate shad, visited the citizens, made fre
quent visits to Baltimore, read abou
the Peninsula Campaign, and won
dered why Mcclellan didn't take Rich
mond. In short, we had q gloriou
good time, and put on all the airs o
real soldiers.
One day the profound quiet of thi
situation at the Back River Station, si
miles from Baltimore, was broken by
furry of real excitement. A negr
came to Captain Pratt (commandln
Company Az and told him that q com
pany of Baltimore Secessionists wer
aboard schooner, Just of North Point
only four our five miles from Bac
River, and were about to go sout
somewhere TO join the Confederat
army. We knew that the negro wa
both loyal and reliable, and we saw
prospect of some real work. Majo
Avery had his quarters at this station
- Az. L. ~roa ..